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Team owner Bobby Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are appealing fines issued to RLL drivers James Jakes, right, and Graham Rahal at the Indianapolis 500. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing plans to appeal $10,000 fines issued to the cars of Graham Rahal and James Jakes for failure to blend in line during Sunday's Indianapolis 500.

IndyCar actually cut the team a break by not issuing a drive-through pit lane penalty for what race control deemed an infraction on lap 57.

A statement from the team said other drivers did the same thing and were not penalized.

It was a bad month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the team that had such high hopes for the 500. Rahal was considered an early favorite to win the 97th-annual race, but he qualified 26th and finished only one position higher after crashing in turn two with seven laps left. Jakes finished a lap behind race winner Tony Kanaan in 20th.

Jakes led five laps, but he was hit with a drive-through penalty on lap 96 for a safety issue in the pits.

The crews of Rahal and Jakes also were fined in qualifications for using cooling devices outside the garage area.